Keeping horses on your property? Then you don’t need me to tell you how much work there always is to do. In addition to all the actual horse care, there are endless weeds to whack, riding rings or tracks to be harrowed, bales of hay to be moved from one end of the property to the other, a manure pile to be dealt with (somehow), a driveway to be plowed in winter…the list goes on and on.

At some point, as your operation grows, you will find that your wheelbarrow and pickup truck just aren’t cutting it anymore. You need some heavy metal. You need a tractor.

But if you’ve never purchased one before, the prospect of shopping for a tractor can be a daunting one. Walking into one of those dealerships where the five-story-tall, three-quarter-of-a-million-dollar combines and harvesters and balers and seed drills and Heaven-knows-what loom in the front lot like shiny invaders from another planet could tax the courage of the most fearless eventer. How in the heck do you sort out the Series 2013 Super Utility Combo Extra Supreme Plus model (with overdrive) from the 4WD, megahydraulic, 187 HP F9000.3, with optional front-end loader? How do you know how much tractor, and which attachments, are right for you?

As a self-professed tractor neophyte, I find myself in exactly this position. Here’s what I found out about tractors